Descripción de los Nodos

The following recommendations are made for improving the management in Kinabalu Park. These recommendations focus mainly on a higher investment into nature

conservation activities in the park and benefits of the members of local communities in terms of capacity building, on collaboration with external institutions to improve management capacity, and on knowledge-based development for enhancing visitor satisfaction:

World heritage sites are recognized as models of effective management and conservation. Therefore, Kinabalu Park, as one of the world heritage sites, should present a good example of management and nature conservation. This is especially critical considering the role of Kinabalu Park as the biodiversity center both in Southeast Asia and the world. Conservation of its diverse biodiversity is of paramount importance. One of the key features of tourism to protected areas is its possible contribution to the financial support of conservation activities in these areas. In Kinabalu Park, the park management should invest more in research and education activities in order to improve conservation activities. Besides, staff training needs to be given more financial emphasis to enhance human resource development of Sabah Parks at site level.

In order to improve the living standard of the porters, these need to be organized to strengthen their integrity and protect their interests. Moreover, there is rising awareness among the mountain guides about the necessity of becoming involved in the management of their activities in the park. However, it is unlikely that the porters and mountain guides will succeed without external support. Kinabalu Park can support the porters and mountain guides in terms of capacity building through providing training, thus facilitating the organization of the porters and encouraging the mountain guides to participate in the management and arrangement of their work.

Constraints in human resources and/or financial allocation are frequent issues faced by management authorities in protected areas. In overcoming these issues, tying up with the local higher institutions is recommended. In the case of Kinabalu Park, with its existing human and financial resources, it is possible for Sabah Parks to further enhance its conservation efforts by establishing a long-term collaboration with the local universities to carry out necessary research. This research has not been conducted so far due to unpopular research topics or topics that require long-term and labor intensive efforts, e.g., monitoring of key and endemic species and human impacts. Apart from solving the problem regarding lack of skilled staff, this would also assist in establishing

Conclusions and recommendations

a continuous training program for the staff by getting them to work together with the local universities.

Knowledge-based activities for visitors need to be promoted in protected areas.

With an appropriate level of information, the management goals, role of the authority and understanding of the park can effectively be channeled to the visitors (Sharp 1976).

Park management should concentrate on increasing the human resources capacity in the guiding services as well as on improving the quality of the tourism infrastructure.

Bearing in mind also that the wish for better knowledge-based activities mostly came from the foreign visitors, and considering that foreign visitors are the key contributors to the tourism revenue in Kinabalu Park, this is of ultimate importance if Kinabalu Park wishes to enhance visitor satisfaction and thereby sustain the positive socio-economic impacts of tourism in the park, and at the same time serve the nature conservation purpose and reflect its status as World Heritage Site. Furthermore, Kinabalu Park must promote the tourism activities with emphasis on quality rather than on quantity; quality here refers to the training provided to its staff and the mountain guides as well as knowledge-based activities.

Additional educational and training programs should be provided to the nature guides and mountain guides to fill the gaps in knowledge and skills. The program should focus on the knowledge related to natural history and park ecology as well as on the attractions of the park. Fluent interpreters play an important role in enhancing visitors’ experience in ecotourism (Fennell 1999). Improving the English language proficiency of the guides is most important. Park management should also initiate training in other languages. The profiles of the climbers in Kinabalu Park indicate which languages the park authority should focus on. In order to develop an appropriate level of education and training for these guides, park management can collaborate with tour operators, the Ministry of Tourism, non-governmental organizations, and tourist education institutions. Apart from improving the overall quality of the mountain guiding services, improving the training of the mountain guides could subsequently lead to an increase in their wages. As for tourism infrastructure development, park management should improve the quality of interpretation along the nature trails and in the mountain garden by providing information in an attractive manner, which could lead to a more fulfilling individual walk.

In order to increase visitor satisfaction, park management should also consider providing brochures to visitors that give general information about the park, e.g., the facilities and activities provided, setting up an information/reception counter as a stop center in the park, offering briefing on mountain climbing, introducing a series of combined activities at a package price, introducing reduced rates for students, and controlling the number of participants per guide during guided nature walks.

Meanwhile, the visitor survey results clearly indicate that visitors, especially the foreign visitors, are more likely willing to pay more if the money were to contribute to conservation in the park and benefit the local communities. Park management should display information on how the income generated from tourism is used to benefit these two areas. This will not only create a certain level of transparency but also increase the sense of awareness and appreciation among the visitors about their contribution to the park. In addition, donation boxes can be located in strategic areas within the park for fund raising.

The quality of the services provided in Kinabalu Park should be measured with respect to meeting the demands of visitors instead of solely looking at the supply (e.g.

the provision and creation of a wide range of tourism activities). Sabah Parks should set up a visitor profile database in Kinabalu Park, and ensure cooperation by Sutera Sanctuary Lodges through proper mechanisms for obtaining information on the resort guests. Besides, feedback forms evaluating the overall experience and activities should be made available at strategic points within the park. This must be a continuous process, serving as part of the monitoring system to improve tourism facilities and activities as well as service quality in Kinabalu Park.